Jetpack, a company owned by WordPress.com parent company Automattic, has acquired the popular WordPress plugin Social Image Generator. This plugin automatically creates attractive social media sharing images and proved so popular that it was acquired within seven months to be integrated into Jetpack.
The Jetpack Twitter announcement said:
“Jetpack is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Social Image Generator, a #WordPress plugin that automatically creates social share images for your content.”
Social Image Generator
Social Image Generator is a premium WordPress plugin that takes the featured image and title of a WordPress post and automatically generates attractive images for social media sharing. The purpose of these generated social media sharing images is to increase engagement. These social media images are generated automatically and can also be customized.
Social Image Generator described its functionality as follows:
“Social Image Generator is a WordPress plugin that automatically creates social share images for your content, saving you hours of tedious work.”
Social Image Generator was founded in February 2021.
Chris Coyier, founder of CSS-Tricks.com and CodePen, tweeted about it to his over 242,000 followers in July 2021:
"1) Social Image Generator 💵 $39/yr. In use on CSS-Tricks (see variations in our birthday post.)"
Social Image Generator became so popular that even Matt Mullenweg, one of the creators of WordPress, used it.
Social Image Generator No Longer Available
The popular plugin can no longer be subscribed to through the original website. A notice on the website announces:
“Social Image Generator has been acquired by Automattic! Social Image Generator is closed for new sales while we integrate the functionality into Jetpack.”
Although WordPress publishers can no longer subscribe to it, it will become integrated as part of Jetpack’s Social Media Automation suite of tools.
According to the official Jetpack announcement:
“When I initially saw Social Image Generator, the functionality looked like an ideal fit with our existing social media tools,” said James Grierson, General Manager of Jetpack. “I look forward to the future functionality and user experience improvements that will come out of this acquisition. The goal of our social product is to help content creators expand their audience through increased distribution and engagement. Social Image Generator will be a key component of helping us deliver this to our customers.”
Social Image Generator Headed to Jetpack
The creator of Social Image Generator will join the Jetpack team to continue developing the product. It will be interesting to see how this is integrated into Jetpack.
Citation
Read the Official Announcement from Jetpack:
Jetpack Acquires WordPress Plugin Social Image Generator
